andtheIToldYouSos – Page 34 – Cannonball Read 17

Do You Have the Need? The Need to Read?

The Need by Helen Phillips

February 27, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Helen Phillips knows how to grab your attention. My pulse was already quickening on the very first page. I had to read as much of it as quickly as I could; the chapters are snappy and taught. I had to stop myself from skimming to the bottom of every page. I was desperate for relief; chapters whip back and forth between the present and several hours ago and I just had to know what nasty break was waiting for me in the present. My distress […]

A Gut-Churning Good Time

The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul by Eleanor Herman

February 24, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 6 Comments

What a ride! Big thanks to badkittyuno for putting this gem on my radar. Or, in the parlance of this book, allowing me to seek of the poisons of this tome via unicorn horn. We, as humans, have done some pretty vile things to ourselves and others since…pretty much the dawn of time. The Royal Art of Poison illustrates-in graphic detail- the poisonous things that people (mostly royalty, but the common man is capable of critical nastiness as well) have been doing intentionally and accidentally to […]

“If you spy a naked man among the pines, you must run as if the Devil were after you.”

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

February 23, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Never have truer words been spoken! This collection of short stories crept around my periphery for some time, and I am both overjoyed to have finally given in to it and disappointed in myself for not biting earlier. I came across it originally on a list of fairy-tale retellings on Autostraddle, and when it popped up again in the employee recommendations section of one of my favorite booksellers (Crow Bookshop in Burlington, what’s up!) I knew that it was meant to be. Still, it sat […]

“It is visceral, it is personal, it is gleeful, and it is triumphant”

Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery

February 18, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 8 Comments

While explaining to a group of medievalists his feelings on reading pieces that are older than a hundred years old, Daniel states ‘ I feel a profound sense of triumph and superiority over the author’ I said, ‘because they are foolish enough to be dead, while I am young and gloriously alive. Not because I think their ideas are outdated or anything like that. It has nothing to do with how they think, or how we see the world differently. It is visceral, it is […]

now is the winter of our discontent

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

February 16, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos 2 Comments

The Party Cloudy Patriot is a loose collection of essays cobbled into a narrative of sorts, and that narrative revolves around patriotism in current political times while framing through the lenses of the past. In this case, Sarah Vowell was living in the fresh hell of 2001; the country was still reeling from the disastrous election cycle that falsely awarded W the win, Clinton’s impeachment was still fresh and Al Gore’s know-it-all pigeonhole could not save the Left, and a day in September changed us in […]

Surprisingly Serious Truths from a Seriously Silly Guy

Vacationland by John Hodgman

February 12, 2020 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

John Hodgman is many things: Daily Show correspondent, a “PC”, podcast guest and host, internet judge, former literary agent, and generally droll New England weirdo. He wrote several books prior to Vacationland, and all of those books were collections of “facts”. I say “facts”, as that is what he might say as well: Hodgman (with the help of Jonathan Coulton) created three full books of completely made-up facts that he presented as being VERY true. They are a weird delight, and sometimes they are correct, […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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